rules committee print 116-35 · october 16, 2019 rules committee print 116-35 text of h.r. 4617,...

OCTOBER 16, 2019

RULES COMMITTEE PRINT 116-35

TEXT OF H.R. 4617, STOPPING HARMFUL INTER-

FERENCE IN ELECTIONS FOR A LASTING DE-

MOCRACY ACT

[Showing the text of H.R. 4617, as ordered reported by the Committee on House Administration, with reserved text as introduced]

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2

‘‘Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting 3

Democracy Act’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Act’’. 4

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 5

this Act is as follows: 6

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—ENHANCED REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Subtitle A—Establishing Duty to Report Foreign Election Interference

Sec. 101. Federal campaign reporting of foreign contacts.

Sec. 102. Federal campaign foreign contact reporting compliance system.

Sec. 103. Criminal penalties.

Sec. 104. Rule of construction.

Subtitle B—Strengthening Oversight of Online Political Advertising

Sec. 111. Short title.

Sec. 112. Purpose.

Sec. 113. Expansion of definition of public communication.

Sec. 114. Expansion of definition of electioneering communication.

Sec. 115. Application of disclaimer statements to online communications.

Sec. 116. Political record requirements for online platforms.

Sec. 117. Preventing contributions, expenditures, independent expenditures,

and disbursements for electioneering communications by for-

eign nationals in the form of online advertising.

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TITLE II—CLOSING LOOPHOLES ALLOWING SPENDING BY

FOREIGN NATIONALS IN ELECTIONS

Sec. 201. Clarification of prohibition on participation by foreign nationals in

election-related activities.

Sec. 202. Clarification of application of foreign money ban to certain disburse-

ments and activities.

Sec. 203. Audit and report on illicit foreign money in Federal elections.

Sec. 204. Prohibition on contributions and donations by foreign nationals in

connections with ballot initiatives and referenda.

Sec. 205. Expansion of limitations on foreign nationals participating in political

advertising.

TITLE III—DETERRING FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS

Subtitle A—Deterrence Under Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

Sec. 301. Restrictions on exchange of campaign information between candidates

and foreign powers.

Sec. 302. Clarification of standard for determining existence of coordination be-

tween campaigns and outside interests.

Subtitle B—Prohibiting Deceptive Practices and Preventing Voter

Intimidation

Sec. 311. Short title.

Sec. 312. Prohibition on deceptive practices in Federal elections.

Sec. 313. Corrective action.

Sec. 314. Reports to Congress.

TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Sec. 401. Effective dates of provisions.

Sec. 402. Severability.

TITLE I—ENHANCED 1

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 2

Subtitle A—Establishing Duty to 3

Report Foreign Election Inter-4

ference 5

SEC. 101. FEDERAL CAMPAIGN REPORTING OF FOREIGN 6

CONTACTS. 7

(a) INITIAL NOTICE.— 8

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal 9

Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104) 10



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3

is amended by adding at the end the following new 1

subsection: 2

‘‘(j) DISCLOSURE OF REPORTABLE FOREIGN CON-3

TACTS.— 4

‘‘(1) COMMITTEE OBLIGATION TO NOTIFY.— 5

Not later than 1 week after a reportable foreign con-6

tact, each political committee shall notify the Fed-7

eral Bureau of Investigation and the Commission of 8

the reportable foreign contact and provide a sum-9

mary of the circumstances with respect to such re-10

portable foreign contact. 11

‘‘(2) INDIVIDUAL OBLIGATION TO NOTIFY.— 12

Not later than 3 days after a reportable foreign con-13

tact— 14

‘‘(A) each candidate shall notify the treas-15

urer or other designated official of the principal 16

campaign committee of such candidate of the 17

reportable foreign contact and provide a sum-18

mary of the circumstances with respect to such 19

reportable foreign contact; and 20

‘‘(B) each official, employee, or agent of a 21

political committee shall notify the treasurer or 22

other designated official of the committee of the 23

reportable foreign contact and provide a sum-24



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4

mary of the circumstances with respect to such 1

reportable foreign contact. 2

‘‘(3) REPORTABLE FOREIGN CONTACT.—In this 3

subsection: 4

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘reportable 5

foreign contact’ means any direct or indirect 6

contact or communication that— 7

‘‘(i) is between— 8

‘‘(I) a candidate, a political com-9

mittee, or any official, employee, or 10

agent of such committee; and 11

‘‘(II) an individual that the per-12

son described in subclause (I) knows, 13

has reason to know, or reasonably be-14

lieves is a covered foreign national; 15

and 16

‘‘(ii) the person described in clause 17

(i)(I) knows, has reason to know, or rea-18

sonably believes involves— 19

‘‘(I) an offer or other proposal 20

for a contribution, donation, expendi-21

ture, disbursement, or solicitation de-22

scribed in section 319; or 23

‘‘(II) coordination or collabora-24

tion with, an offer or provision of in-25



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5

formation or services to or from, or 1

persistent and repeated contact with, 2

a covered foreign national in connec-3

tion with an election. 4

‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The term ‘reportable 5

foreign contact’ shall not include any contact or 6

communication with a covered foreign national 7

by an elected official or an employee of an elect-8

ed official solely in an official capacity as such 9

an official or employee. For purposes of the 10

previous sentence, a contact or communication 11

by an elected official or an employee of an elect-12

ed official shall not be considered to be made 13

solely in an official capacity if the contact or 14

communication involves a contribution, dona-15

tion, expenditure, disbursement, or solicitation 16

described in section 319. 17

‘‘(C) COVERED FOREIGN NATIONAL DE-18

FINED.— 19

‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In this paragraph, 20

the term ‘covered foreign national’ 21

means— 22

‘‘(I) a foreign principal (as de-23

fined in section 1(b) of the Foreign 24

Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 25



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6

U.S.C. 611(b)) that is a government 1

of a foreign country or a foreign polit-2

ical party; 3

‘‘(II) any person who acts as an 4

agent, representative, employee, or 5

servant, or any person who acts in 6

any other capacity at the order, re-7

quest, or under the direction or con-8

trol, of a foreign principal described in 9

subclause (I) or of a person any of 10

whose activities are directly or indi-11

rectly supervised, directed, controlled, 12

financed, or subsidized in whole or in 13

major part by a foreign principal de-14

scribed in subclause (I); or 15

‘‘(III) any person included in the 16

list of specially designated nationals 17

and blocked persons maintained by 18

the Office of Foreign Assets Control 19

of the Department of the Treasury 20

pursuant to authorities relating to the 21

imposition of sanctions relating to the 22

conduct of a foreign principal de-23

scribed in subclause (I). 24



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‘‘(ii) CLARIFICATION REGARDING AP-1

PLICATION TO CITIZENS OF THE UNITED 2

STATES.—In the case of a citizen of the 3

United States, subclause (II) of clause (i) 4

applies only to the extent that the person 5

involved acts within the scope of that per-6

son’s status as the agent of a foreign prin-7

cipal described in subclause (I) of clause 8

(i).’’. 9

(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 10

by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to report-11

able foreign contacts which occur on or after the 12

date of the enactment of this Act. 13

(b) INFORMATION INCLUDED ON REPORT.— 14

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 304(b) of such Act 15

(52 U.S.C. 30104(b)) is amended— 16

(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-17

graph (7); 18

(B) by striking the period at the end of 19

paragraph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 20

(C) by adding at the end the following new 21

paragraph: 22

‘‘(9) for any reportable foreign contact (as de-23

fined in subsection (j)(3))— 24



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8

‘‘(A) the date, time, and location of the 1

contact; 2

‘‘(B) the date and time of when a des-3

ignated official of the committee was notified of 4

the contact; 5

‘‘(C) the identity of individuals involved; 6

and 7

‘‘(D) a description of the contact, including 8

the nature of any contribution, donation, ex-9

penditure, disbursement, or solicitation involved 10

and the nature of any activity described in sub-11

section (j)(3)(A)(ii)(II) involved.’’. 12

(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 13

by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to reports 14

filed on or after the expiration of the 60-day period 15

which begins on the date of the enactment of this 16

Act. 17

SEC. 102. FEDERAL CAMPAIGN FOREIGN CONTACT RE-18

PORTING COMPLIANCE SYSTEM. 19

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302 of the Federal Elec-20

tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30102) is amended 21

by adding at the end the following new subsection: 22

‘‘(j) REPORTABLE FOREIGN CONTACTS COMPLIANCE 23

POLICY.— 24



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9

‘‘(1) REPORTING.—Each political committee 1

shall establish a policy that requires all officials, em-2

ployees, and agents of such committee to notify the 3

treasurer or other appropriate designated official of 4

the committee of any reportable foreign contact (as 5

defined in section 304(j)) not later than 3 days after 6

such contact was made. 7

‘‘(2) RETENTION AND PRESERVATION OF 8

RECORDS.—Each political committee shall establish 9

a policy that provides for the retention and preserva-10

tion of records and information related to reportable 11

foreign contacts (as so defined) for a period of not 12

less than 3 years. 13

‘‘(3) CERTIFICATION.— 14

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon filing its state-15

ment of organization under section 303(a), and 16

with each report filed under section 304(a), the 17

treasurer of each political committee (other 18

than an authorized committee) shall certify 19

that— 20

‘‘(i) the committee has in place poli-21

cies that meet the requirements of para-22

graphs (1) and (2); 23



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10

‘‘(ii) the committee has designated an 1

official to monitor compliance with such 2

policies; and 3

‘‘(iii) not later than 1 week after the 4

beginning of any formal or informal affili-5

ation with the committee, all officials, em-6

ployees, and agents of such committee 7

will— 8

‘‘(I) receive notice of such poli-9

cies; 10

‘‘(II) be informed of the prohibi-11

tions under section 319; and 12

‘‘(III) sign a certification affirm-13

ing their understanding of such poli-14

cies and prohibitions. 15

‘‘(B) AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES.—With 16

respect to an authorized committee, the can-17

didate shall make the certification required 18

under subparagraph (A).’’. 19

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 20

(1) IN GENERAL.—The amendment made by 21

subsection (a) shall apply with respect to political 22

committees which file a statement of organization 23

under section 303(a) of the Federal Election Cam-24



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11

paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30103(a)) on or after 1

the date of the enactment of this Act. 2

(2) TRANSITION RULE FOR EXISTING COMMIT-3

TEES.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 4

enactment of this Act, each political committee 5

under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 6

shall file a certification with the Federal Election 7

Commission that the committee is in compliance 8

with the requirements of section 302(j) of such Act 9

(as added by subsection (a)). 10

SEC. 103. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 11

Section 309(d)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign 12

Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30109(d)(1)) is amended by add-13

ing at the end the following new subparagraphs: 14

‘‘(E) Any person who knowingly and willfully com-15

mits a violation of subsection (j) or (b)(9) of section 304 16

or section 302(j) shall be fined not more than $500,000, 17

imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 18

‘‘(F) Any person who knowingly and willfully conceals 19

or destroys any materials relating to a reportable foreign 20

contact (as defined in section 304(j)) shall be fined not 21

more than $1,000,000, imprisoned not more than 5 years, 22

or both.’’. 23



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SEC. 104. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 1

Nothing in this subtitle or the amendments made by 2

this subtitle shall be construed— 3

(1) to impede legitimate journalistic activities; 4

or 5

(2) to impose any additional limitation on the 6

right to express political views or to participate in 7

public discourse of any individual who— 8

(A) resides in the United States; 9

(B) is not a citizen of the United States or 10

a national of the United States, as defined in 11

section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Na-12

tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22)); and 13

(C) is not lawfully admitted for permanent 14

residence, as defined by section 101(a)(20) of 15

the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 16

1101(a)(20)). 17

Subtitle B—Strengthening Over-18

sight of Online Political Adver-19

tising 20

SEC. 111. SHORT TITLE. 21

This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Honest Ads Act’’. 22

SEC. 112. PURPOSE. 23

The purpose of this subtitle is to enhance the integ-24

rity of American democracy and national security by im-25

proving disclosure requirements for online political adver-26



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13

tisements in order to uphold the Supreme Court’s well- 1

established standard that the electorate bears the right to 2

be fully informed. 3

SEC. 113. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMU-4

NICATION. 5

(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (22) of section 301 of 6

the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 7

30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite commu-8

nication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, or paid 9

digital communication’’. 10

(b) TREATMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI-11

TURES.—Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 12

amended— 13

(1) in paragraph (8)(B)(v), by striking ‘‘on 14

broadcasting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 15

or similar types of general public political adver-16

tising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public communica-17

tion’’; and 18

(2) in paragraph (9)(B)— 19

(A) by amending clause (i) to read as fol-20

lows: 21

‘‘(i) any news story, commentary, or 22

editorial distributed through the facilities 23

of any broadcasting station or any print, 24

online, or digital newspaper, magazine, 25



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14

blog, publication, or periodical, unless such 1

broadcasting, print, online, or digital facili-2

ties are owned or controlled by any polit-3

ical party, political committee, or can-4

didate;’’; and 5

(B) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘on broad-6

casting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 7

or similar types of general public political ad-8

vertising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public commu-9

nication’’. 10

(c) DISCLOSURE AND DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS.— 11

Subsection (a) of section 318 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 12

30120) is amended— 13

(1) by striking ‘‘financing any communication 14

through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga-15

zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 16

other type of general public political advertising’’ 17

and inserting ‘‘financing any public communication’’; 18

and 19

(2) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 20

through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga-21

zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 22

other type of general public political advertising’’ 23

and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribution through any 24

public communication’’. 25



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15

SEC. 114. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ELECTIONEERING 1

COMMUNICATION. 2

(a) EXPANSION TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.— 3

(1) APPLICATION TO QUALIFIED INTERNET AND 4

DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 5

(A) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of 6

section 304(f)(3) of the Federal Election Cam-7

paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)(3)(A)) 8

is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite communica-9

tion’’ each place it appears in clauses (i) and 10

(ii) and inserting ‘‘satellite, or qualified internet 11

or digital communication’’. 12

(B) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL 13

COMMUNICATION.—Paragraph (3) of section 14

304(f) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)) is 15

amended by adding at the end the following 16

new subparagraph: 17

‘‘(D) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL 18

COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘qualified internet 19

or digital communication’ means any commu-20

nication which is placed or promoted for a fee 21

on an online platform (as defined in subsection 22

(k)(3)).’’. 23

(2) NONAPPLICATION OF RELEVANT ELEC-24

TORATE TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 25

304(f)(3)(A)(i)(III) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 26



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16

30104(f)(3)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by inserting ‘‘any 1

broadcast, cable, or satellite’’ before ‘‘communica-2

tion’’. 3

(3) NEWS EXEMPTION.—Section 4

304(f)(3)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 5

30104(f)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 6

‘‘(i) a communication appearing in a 7

news story, commentary, or editorial dis-8

tributed through the facilities of any 9

broadcasting station or any online or dig-10

ital newspaper, magazine, blog, publica-11

tion, or periodical, unless such broad-12

casting, online, or digital facilities are 13

owned or controlled by any political party, 14

political committee, or candidate;’’. 15

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 16

this section shall apply with respect to communications 17

made on or after January 1, 2020. 18

SEC. 115. APPLICATION OF DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS TO 19

ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS. 20

(a) CLEAR AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER REQUIRE-21

MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 318 of the Federal Elec-22

tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is 23

amended— 24



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17

(1) by striking ‘‘shall clearly state’’ each place 1

it appears in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and in-2

serting ‘‘shall state in a clear and conspicuous man-3

ner’’; and 4

(2) by adding at the end the following flush 5

sentence: ‘‘For purposes of this section, a commu-6

nication does not make a statement in a clear and 7

conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or hear 8

or if the placement is easily overlooked.’’. 9

(b) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR 10


(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 318 of such Act (52 12

U.S.C. 30120) is amended by adding at the end the 13

following new subsection: 14

‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR 15


‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULES WITH RESPECT TO STATE-17

MENTS.—In the case of any communication to which 18

this section applies which is a qualified internet or 19

digital communication (as defined in section 20

304(f)(3)(D)) which is disseminated through a me-21

dium in which the provision of all of the information 22

specified in this section is not possible, the commu-23

nication shall, in a clear and conspicuous manner— 24



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18

‘‘(A) state the name of the person who 1

paid for the communication; and 2

‘‘(B) provide a means for the recipient of 3

the communication to obtain the remainder of 4

the information required under this section with 5

minimal effort and without receiving or viewing 6

any additional material other than such re-7

quired information. 8

‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING CLEAR 9

AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER.—A statement in a 10

qualified internet or digital communication (as de-11

fined in section 304(f)(3)(D)) shall be considered to 12

be made in a clear and conspicuous manner as pro-13

vided in subsection (a) if the communication meets 14

the following requirements: 15

‘‘(A) TEXT OR GRAPHIC COMMUNICA-16

TIONS.—In the case of a text or graphic com-17

munication, the statement— 18

‘‘(i) appears in letters at least as large 19

as the majority of the text in the commu-20

nication; and 21

‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of para-22

graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c). 23

‘‘(B) AUDIO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 24

case of an audio communication, the statement 25



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19

is spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible 1

manner at the beginning or end of the commu-2

nication and lasts at least 3 seconds. 3

‘‘(C) VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 4

case of a video communication which also in-5

cludes audio, the statement— 6

‘‘(i) is included at either the beginning 7

or the end of the communication; and 8

‘‘(ii) is made both in— 9

‘‘(I) a written format that meets 10

the requirements of subparagraph (A) 11

and appears for at least 4 seconds; 12

and 13

‘‘(II) an audible format that 14

meets the requirements of subpara-15

graph (B). 16

‘‘(D) OTHER COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 17

case of any other type of communication, the 18

statement is at least as clear and conspicuous 19

as the statement specified in subparagraph (A), 20

(B), or (C).’’. 21

(2) NONAPPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXCEP-22

TIONS.—The exceptions provided in section 23

110.11(f)(1)(i) and (ii) of title 11, Code of Federal 24

Regulations, or any successor to such rules, shall 25



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20

have no application to qualified internet or digital 1

communications (as defined in section 304(f)(3)(D) 2

of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 3

added by this Act). 4

(c) MODIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS 5

FOR CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318(d) of such 6

Act (52 U.S.C. 30120(d)) is amended— 7

(1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 8

(A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 9

through radio’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in an 10

audio format’’; and 11

(B) by striking ‘‘BY RADIO’’ in the heading 12

and inserting ‘‘AUDIO FORMAT’’; 13

(2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 14

(A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 15

through television’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in 16

video format’’; and 17

(B) by striking ‘‘BY TELEVISION’’ in the 18

heading and inserting ‘‘VIDEO FORMAT’’; and 19

(3) in paragraph (2)— 20

(A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 21

or television’’ and inserting ‘‘made in audio or 22

video format’’; and 23



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21

(B) by striking ‘‘through television’’ in the 1

second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for-2

mat’’. 3

SEC. 116. POLITICAL RECORD REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE 4

PLATFORMS. 5

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec-6

tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104), as amend-7

ed by section 101(a), is further amended by adding at the 8

end the following new subsection: 9

‘‘(k) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN ONLINE ADVERTISE-10

MENTS.— 11

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 12

‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE PLAT-13

FORMS.—An online platform shall maintain, 14

and make available for online public inspection 15

in machine readable format, a complete record 16

of any request to purchase on such online plat-17

form a qualified political advertisement which is 18

made by a person whose aggregate requests to 19

purchase qualified political advertisements on 20

such online platform during the calendar year 21

exceeds $500. 22

‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVER-23

TISERS.—Any person who requests to purchase 24

a qualified political advertisement on an online 25



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22

platform shall provide the online platform with 1

such information as is necessary for the online 2

platform to comply with the requirements of 3

subparagraph (A). 4

‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD.—A record main-5

tained under paragraph (1)(A) shall contain— 6

‘‘(A) a digital copy of the qualified political 7

advertisement; 8

‘‘(B) a description of the audience targeted 9

by the advertisement, the number of views gen-10

erated from the advertisement, and the date 11

and time that the advertisement is first dis-12

played and last displayed; and 13

‘‘(C) information regarding— 14

‘‘(i) the average rate charged for the 15

advertisement; 16

‘‘(ii) the name of the candidate to 17

which the advertisement refers and the of-18

fice to which the candidate is seeking elec-19

tion, the election to which the advertise-20

ment refers, or the national legislative 21

issue to which the advertisement refers (as 22

applicable); 23

‘‘(iii) in the case of a request made 24

by, or on behalf of, a candidate, the name 25



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23

of the candidate, the authorized committee 1

of the candidate, and the treasurer of such 2

committee; and 3

‘‘(iv) in the case of any request not 4

described in clause (iii), the name of the 5

person purchasing the advertisement, the 6

name and address of a contact person for 7

such person, and a list of the chief execu-8

tive officers or members of the executive 9

committee or of the board of directors of 10

such person. 11

‘‘(3) ONLINE PLATFORM.—For purposes of this 12

subsection, the term ‘online platform’ means any 13

public-facing website, web application, or digital ap-14

plication (including a social network, ad network, or 15

search engine) which— 16

‘‘(A) sells qualified political advertise-17

ments; and 18

‘‘(B) has 50,000,000 or more unique 19

monthly United States visitors or users for a 20

majority of months during the preceding 12 21

months. 22

‘‘(4) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.— 23

For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified 24

political advertisement’ means any advertisement 25



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24

(including search engine marketing, display adver-1

tisements, video advertisements, native advertise-2

ments, and sponsorships) that— 3

‘‘(A) is made by or on behalf of a can-4

didate; or 5

‘‘(B) communicates a message relating to 6

any political matter of national importance, in-7

cluding— 8

‘‘(i) a candidate; 9

‘‘(ii) any election to Federal office; or 10

‘‘(iii) a national legislative issue of 11

public importance. 12

‘‘(5) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa-13

tion required under this subsection shall be made 14

available as soon as possible and shall be retained by 15

the online platform for a period of not less than 4 16

years. 17

‘‘(6) SAFE HARBOR FOR PLATFORMS MAKING 18

BEST EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY REQUESTS WHICH ARE 19

SUBJECT TO RECORD MAINTENANCE REQUIRE-20

MENTS.—In accordance with rules established by the 21

Commission, if an online platform shows that the 22

platform used best efforts to determine whether or 23

not a request to purchase a qualified political adver-24

tisement was subject to the requirements of this sub-25



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25

section, the online platform shall not be considered 1

to be in violation of such requirements. 2

‘‘(7) PENALTIES.—For penalties for failure by 3

online platforms, and persons requesting to purchase 4

a qualified political advertisement on online plat-5

forms, to comply with the requirements of this sub-6

section, see section 309.’’. 7

(b) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 120 days after the 8

date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 9

Commission shall establish rules— 10

(1) requiring common data formats for the 11

record required to be maintained under section 12

304(k) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 13

1971 (as added by subsection (a)) so that all online 14

platforms submit and maintain data online in a com-15

mon, machine-readable and publicly accessible for-16

mat; 17

(2) establishing search interface requirements 18

relating to such record, including searches by can-19

didate name, issue, purchaser, and date; and 20

(3) establishing the criteria for the safe harbor 21

exception provided under paragraph (6) of section 22

304(k) of such Act (as added by subsection (a)). 23

(c) REPORTING.—Not later than 2 years after the 24

date of the enactment of this Act, and biannually there-25



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26

after, the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission 1

shall submit a report to Congress on— 2

(1) matters relating to compliance with and the 3

enforcement of the requirements of section 304(k) of 4

the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 5

added by subsection (a); 6

(2) recommendations for any modifications to 7

such section to assist in carrying out its purposes; 8

and 9

(3) identifying ways to bring transparency and 10

accountability to political advertisements distributed 11

online for free. 12

SEC. 117. PREVENTING CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPENDITURES, 13

INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES, AND DIS-14

BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COM-15

MUNICATIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 16

THE FORM OF ONLINE ADVERTISING. 17

Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 18

of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the 19


‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF BROADCAST STATIONS, 21

PROVIDERS OF CABLE AND SATELLITE TELEVISION, AND 22

ONLINE PLATFORMS.— 23

‘‘(1) RESPONSIBILITIES DESCRIBED.—Each tel-24

evision or radio broadcast station, provider of cable 25



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27

or satellite television, or online platform (as defined 1

in section 304(k)(3)) shall make reasonable efforts 2

to ensure that communications described in section 3

318(a) and made available by such station, provider, 4

or platform are not purchased by a foreign national, 5

directly or indirectly. For purposes of the previous 6

sentence, a station, provider, or online platform shall 7

not be considered to have made reasonable efforts 8

under this paragraph in the case of the availability 9

of a communication unless the station, provider, or 10

online platform directly inquires from the individual 11

or entity making such purchase whether the pur-12

chase is to be made by a foreign national, directly 13

or indirectly. 14

‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULES FOR DISBURSEMENT PAID 15

WITH CREDIT CARD.—For purposes of paragraph 16

(1), a television or radio broadcast station, provider 17

of cable or satellite television, or online platform 18

shall be considered to have made reasonable efforts 19

under such paragraph in the case of a purchase of 20

the availability of a communication which is made 21

with a credit card if— 22

‘‘(A) the individual or entity making such 23

purchase is required, at the time of making 24



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28

such purchase, to disclose the credit verification 1

value of such credit card; and 2

‘‘(B) the billing address associated with 3

such credit card is located in the United States 4

or, in the case of a purchase made by an indi-5

vidual who is a United States citizen living out-6

side of the United States, the individual pro-7

vides the television or radio broadcast station, 8

provider of cable or satellite television, or online 9

platform with the United States mailing ad-10

dress the individual uses for voter registration 11

purposes.’’. 12

TITLE II—CLOSING LOOPHOLES 13

ALLOWING SPENDING BY 14

FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 15

ELECTIONS 16

SEC. 201. CLARIFICATION OF PROHIBITION ON PARTICIPA-17

TION BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN ELECTION- 18

RELATED ACTIVITIES. 19

(a) CLARIFICATION OF PROHIBITION.—Section 20

319(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 21

U.S.C. 30121(a)) is amended— 22

(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph 23

(1); 24



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29

(2) by striking the period at the end of para-1

graph (2) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 2

(3) by adding at the end the following new 3

paragraph: 4

‘‘(3) a foreign national to direct, dictate, con-5

trol, or directly or indirectly participate in the deci-6

sion making process of any person (including a cor-7

poration, labor organization, political committee, or 8

political organization) with regard to such person’s 9

Federal or non-Federal election-related activity, in-10

cluding any decision concerning the making of con-11

tributions, donations, expenditures, or disbursements 12

in connection with an election for any Federal, 13

State, or local office or any decision concerning the 14

administration of a political committee.’’. 15

(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Section 319 16

of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30121), as amended by section 17

117, is further amended by adding at the end the following 18

new subsection: 19

‘‘(d) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE REQUIRED 20

PRIOR TO CARRYING OUT ACTIVITY.—Prior to the mak-21

ing in connection with an election for Federal office of any 22

contribution, donation, expenditure, independent expendi-23

ture, or disbursement for an electioneering communication 24

by a corporation, labor organization (as defined in section 25



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30

316(b)), limited liability corporation, or partnership dur-1

ing a year, the chief executive officer of the corporation, 2

labor organization, limited liability corporation, or part-3

nership (or, if the corporation, labor organization, limited 4

liability corporation, or partnership does not have a chief 5

executive officer, the highest ranking official of the cor-6

poration, labor organization, limited liability corporation, 7

or partnership), shall file a certification with the Commis-8

sion, under penalty of perjury, that a foreign national did 9

not direct, dictate, control, or directly or indirectly partici-10

pate in the decision making process relating to such activ-11

ity in violation of subsection (a)(3), unless the chief execu-12

tive officer has previously filed such a certification during 13

that calendar year.’’. 14

(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 15

this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 16

180-day period which begins on the date of the enactment 17

of this Act. 18

SEC. 202. CLARIFICATION OF APPLICATION OF FOREIGN 19

MONEY BAN TO CERTAIN DISBURSEMENTS 20

AND ACTIVITIES. 21

(a) APPLICATION TO DISBURSEMENTS TO SUPER 22

PACS.—Section 319(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Election 23

Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(1)(A)) is 24

amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the fol-25



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31

lowing: ‘‘, including any disbursement to a political com-1

mittee which accepts donations or contributions that do 2

not comply with the limitations, prohibitions, and report-3

ing requirements of this Act (or any disbursement to or 4

on behalf of any account of a political committee which 5

is established for the purpose of accepting such donations 6

or contributions);’’. 7

(b) CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CORPORATE PACS 8

MAY MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES.—Sec-9

tion 316(b) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30118(b)) is amended 10

by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 11

‘‘(8) A separate segregated fund established by a cor-12

poration may not make a contribution or expenditure dur-13

ing a year unless the fund has certified to the Commission 14

the following during the year: 15

‘‘(A) Each individual who manages the fund, 16

and who is responsible for exercising decisionmaking 17

authority for the fund, is a citizen of the United 18

States or is lawfully admitted for permanent resi-19

dence in the United States. 20

‘‘(B) No foreign national under section 319 21

participates in any way in the decisionmaking proc-22

esses of the fund with regard to contributions or ex-23

penditures under this Act. 24



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32

‘‘(C) The fund does not solicit or accept rec-1

ommendations from any foreign national under sec-2

tion 319 with respect to the contributions or expend-3

itures made by the fund. 4

‘‘(D) Any member of the board of directors of 5

the corporation who is a foreign national under sec-6

tion 319 abstains from voting on matters concerning 7

the fund or its activities.’’. 8

SEC. 203. AUDIT AND REPORT ON ILLICIT FOREIGN MONEY 9

IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 10

(a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election 11

Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is 12

amended by inserting after section 319 the following new 13

section: 14

‘‘SEC. 319A. AUDIT AND REPORT ON DISBURSEMENTS BY 15

FOREIGN NATIONALS. 16

‘‘(a) AUDIT.— 17

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con-18

duct an audit after each Federal election cycle to de-19

termine the incidence of illicit foreign money in such 20

Federal election cycle. 21

‘‘(2) PROCEDURES.—In carrying out paragraph 22

(1), the Commission shall conduct random audits of 23

any disbursements required to be reported under 24



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33

this Act, in accordance with procedures established 1

by the Commission. 2

‘‘(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the end 3

of each Federal election cycle, the Commission shall sub-4

mit to Congress a report containing— 5

‘‘(1) results of the audit required by subsection 6

(a)(1); and 7

‘‘(2) recommendations to address the presence 8

of illicit foreign money in elections, as appropriate. 9

‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 10

‘‘(1) The term ‘Federal election cycle’ means 11

the period which begins on the day after the date of 12

a regularly scheduled general election for Federal of-13

fice and which ends on the date of the first regularly 14

scheduled general election for Federal office held 15

after such date. 16

‘‘(2) The term ‘illicit foreign money’ means any 17

disbursement by a foreign national (as defined in 18

section 319(b)) prohibited under such section.’’. 19

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 20

subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the Federal elec-21

tion cycle that began during November 2018, and each 22

succeeding Federal election cycle. 23



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34

SEC. 204. PROHIBITION ON CONTRIBUTIONS AND DONA-1

TIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN CONNEC-2

TIONS WITH BALLOT INITIATIVES AND 3

REFERENDA. 4

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 319(a)(1)(A) of the Fed-5

eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 6

30121(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘election’’ and in-7

serting the following: ‘‘election, including a State or local 8

ballot initiative or referendum’’. 9

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 10

this section shall apply with respect to elections held in 11

2020 or any succeeding year. 12

SEC. 205. EXPANSION OF LIMITATIONS ON FOREIGN NA-13

TIONALS PARTICIPATING IN POLITICAL AD-14

VERTISING. 15

(a) DISBURSEMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 16

319(a)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 17

(52 U.S.C. 30121(a)(1)) is amended— 18

(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph 19

(B); and 20

(2) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 21

the following: 22

‘‘(C) an expenditure; 23

‘‘(D) an independent expenditure; 24



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35

‘‘(E) a disbursement for an electioneering 1

communication (within the meaning of section 2

304(f)(3)); 3

‘‘(F) a disbursement for a communication 4

which is placed or promoted for a fee on a 5

website, web application, or digital application 6

that refers to a clearly identified candidate for 7

election for Federal office and is disseminated 8

within 60 days before a general, special or run-9

off election for the office sought by the can-10

didate or 30 days before a primary or pref-11

erence election, or a convention or caucus of a 12

political party that has authority to nominate a 13

candidate for the office sought by the can-14

didate; 15

‘‘(G) a disbursement for a broadcast, cable 16

or satellite communication, or for a communica-17

tion which is placed or promoted for a fee on 18

a website, web application, or digital applica-19

tion, that promotes, supports, attacks or op-20

poses the election of a clearly identified can-21

didate for Federal, State, or local office (re-22

gardless of whether the communication contains 23

express advocacy or the functional equivalent of 24

express advocacy); 25



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36

‘‘(H) a disbursement for a broadcast, 1

cable, or satellite communication, or for any 2

communication which is placed or promoted for 3

a fee on an online platform (as defined in sec-4

tion 304(k)(3)), that discusses a national legis-5

lative issue of public importance in a year in 6

which a regularly scheduled general election for 7

Federal office is held, but only if the disburse-8

ment is made by a covered foreign national de-9

scribed in section 304(j)(3)(C); or 10

‘‘(I) a disbursement by a covered foreign 11

national described in section 304(j)(3)(C) to 12

compensate any person for internet activity that 13

promotes, supports, attacks or opposes the elec-14

tion of a clearly identified candidate for Fed-15

eral, State, or local office (regardless of whether 16

the activity communication contains express ad-17

vocacy or the functional equivalent of express 18

advocacy);’’. 19

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 20

this section shall apply with respect to disbursements 21

made on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 22



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37

TITLE III—DETERRING FOREIGN 1

INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS 2

Subtitle A—Deterrence Under Fed-3

eral Election Campaign Act of 4

1971 5

SEC. 301. RESTRICTIONS ON EXCHANGE OF CAMPAIGN IN-6

FORMATION BETWEEN CANDIDATES AND 7

FOREIGN POWERS. 8

Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 9

of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121), as amended by section 117 10

and section 201(b), is further amended by adding at the 11


‘‘(e) RESTRICTIONS ON EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION 13

BETWEEN CANDIDATES AND FOREIGN POWERS.— 14

‘‘(1) TREATMENT OF OFFER TO SHARE NON-15

PUBLIC CAMPAIGN MATERIAL AS SOLICITATION OF 16

CONTRIBUTION FROM FOREIGN NATIONAL.—If a 17

candidate or an individual affiliated with the cam-18

paign of a candidate, or if a political committee or 19

an individual affiliated with a political committee, 20

provides or offers to provide nonpublic campaign 21

material to a covered foreign national or to another 22

person whom the candidate, committee, or individual 23

knows or has reason to know will provide the mate-24

rial to a covered foreign national, the candidate, 25



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38

committee, or individual (as the case may be) shall 1

be considered for purposes of this section to have so-2

licited a contribution or donation described in sub-3

section (a)(1)(A) from a foreign national. 4

‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-5

lowing definitions apply: 6

‘‘(A) The term ‘candidate’ means an indi-7

vidual who seeks nomination for, or election to, 8

any Federal, State, or local public office. 9

‘‘(B) The term ‘covered foreign national’ 10

has the meaning given such term in section 11

304(j)(3)(C). 12

‘‘(C) The term ‘individual affiliated with a 13

campaign’ means, with respect to a candidate, 14

an employee of any organization legally author-15

ized under Federal, State, or local law to sup-16

port the candidate’s campaign for nomination 17

for, or election to, any Federal, State, or local 18

public office, as well as any independent con-19

tractor of such an organization and any indi-20

vidual who performs services on behalf of the 21

organization, whether paid or unpaid. 22

‘‘(D) The term ‘individual affiliated with a 23

political committee’ means, with respect to a 24

political committee, an employee of the com-25



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39

mittee as well as any independent contractor of 1

the committee and any individual who performs 2

services on behalf of the committee, whether 3

paid or unpaid. 4

‘‘(E) The term ‘nonpublic campaign mate-5

rial’ means, with respect to a candidate or a po-6

litical committee, campaign material that is 7

produced by the candidate or the committee or 8

produced at the candidate or committee’s ex-9

pense or request which is not distributed or 10

made available to the general public or other-11

wise in the public domain, including polling and 12

focus group data and opposition research, ex-13

cept that such term does not include material 14

produced for purposes of consultations relating 15

solely to the candidate’s or committee’s position 16

on a legislative or policy matter.’’. 17

SEC. 302. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARD FOR DETER-18

MINING EXISTENCE OF COORDINATION BE-19

TWEEN CAMPAIGNS AND OUTSIDE INTER-20

ESTS. 21

Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 22

of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30116(a)) is amended by adding at 23

the end the following new paragraph: 24



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40

‘‘(10) For purposes of paragraph (7), an expenditure 1

or disbursement may be considered to have been made in 2

cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or coordinated 3

with, a person without regard to whether or not the co-4

operation, consultation, or coordination is carried out pur-5

suant to agreement or formal collaboration.’’. 6

Subtitle B—Prohibiting Deceptive 7

Practices and Preventing Voter 8

Intimidation 9

SEC. 311. SHORT TITLE. 10

This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Deceptive Prac-11

tices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2019’’. 12

SEC. 312. PROHIBITION ON DECEPTIVE PRACTICES IN FED-13

ERAL ELECTIONS. 14

(a) PROHIBITION.—Subsection (b) of section 2004 of 15

the Revised Statutes (52 U.S.C. 10101(b)) is amended— 16

(1) by striking ‘‘No person’’ and inserting the 17

following: 18

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No person’’; and 19

(2) by inserting at the end the following new 20

paragraphs: 21

‘‘(2) FALSE STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERAL 22

ELECTIONS.— 23

‘‘(A) PROHIBITION.—No person, whether 24

acting under color of law or otherwise, shall, 25



g:\VHLC\101619\101619.362.xml (747136|5)

41

within 60 days before an election described in 1

paragraph (5), by any means, including by 2

means of written, electronic, or telephonic com-3

munications, communicate or cause to be com-4

municated information described in subpara-5

graph (B), or produce information described in 6

subparagraph (B) with the intent that such in-7

formation be communicated, if such person— 8

‘‘(i) knows such information to be ma-9

terially false; and 10

‘‘(ii) has the intent to impede or pre-11

vent another person from exercising the 12

right to vote in an election described in 13

paragraph (5). 14

‘‘(B) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—Infor-15

mation is described in this subparagraph if such 16

information is regarding— 17

‘‘(i) the time, place, or manner of 18

holding any election described in para-19

graph (5); or 20

‘‘(ii) the qualifications for or restric-21

tions on voter eligibility for any such elec-22

tion, including— 23



g:\VHLC\101619\101619.362.xml (747136|5)

42

‘‘(I) any criminal penalties asso-1

ciated with voting in any such elec-2

tion; or 3

‘‘(II) information regarding a 4

voter’s registration status or eligi-5

bility. 6

‘‘(3) FALSE STATEMENTS REGARDING PUBLIC 7

ENDORSEMENTS.— 8

‘‘(A) PROHIBITION.—No person, whether 9

acting under color of law or otherwise, shall, 10

within 60 days before an election described in 11

paragraph (5), by any means, including by 12

means of written, electronic, or telephonic com-13

munications, communicate, or cause to be com-14

municated, a materially false statement about 15

an endorsement, if such person— 16

‘‘(i) knows such statement to be false; 17

and 18

‘‘(ii) has the intent to impede or pre-19

vent another person from exercising the 20

right to vote in an election described in 21

paragraph (5). 22

‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF ‘MATERIALLY 23

FALSE’.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), a 24

statement about an endorsement is ‘materially 25



g:\VHLC\101619\101619.362.xml (747136|5)

43

false’ if, with respect to an upcoming election 1

described in paragraph (5)— 2

‘‘(i) the statement states that a spe-3

cifically named person, political party, or 4

organization has endorsed the election of a 5

specific candidate for a Federal office de-6

scribed in such paragraph; and 7

‘‘(ii) such person, political party, or 8

organization has not endorsed the election 9

of such candidate. 10

‘‘(4) HINDERING, INTERFERING WITH, OR PRE-11

VENTING VOTING OR REGISTERING TO VOTE.—No 12

person, whether acting under color of law or other-13

wise, shall intentionally hinder, interfere with, or 14

prevent another person from voting, registering to 15

vote, or aiding another person to vote or register to 16

vote in an election described in paragraph (5). 17

‘‘(5) ELECTION DESCRIBED.—An election de-18

scribed in this paragraph is any general, primary, 19

run-off, or special election held solely or in part for 20

the purpose of nominating or electing a candidate 21

for the office of President, Vice President, presi-22

dential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of 23

the House of Representatives, or Delegate or Com-24

missioner from a Territory or possession.’’. 25



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44

(b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 1

(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 2

2004 of the Revised Statutes (52 U.S.C. 10101(c)) 3

is amended— 4

(A) by striking ‘‘Whenever any person’’ 5

and inserting the following: 6

‘‘(1) Whenever any person’’; and 7

(B) by adding at the end the following new 8

paragraph: 9

‘‘(2) Any person aggrieved by a violation of 10

subsection (b)(2), (b)(3), or (b)(4) may institute a 11

civil action for preventive relief, including an appli-12

cation in a United States district court for a perma-13

nent or temporary injunction, restraining order, or 14

other order. In any such action, the court, in its dis-15

cretion, may allow the prevailing party a reasonable 16

attorney’s fee as part of the costs.’’. 17

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 18

(A) Subsection (e) of section 2004 of the 19

Revised Statutes (52 U.S.C. 10101(e)) is 20

amended by striking ‘‘subsection (c)’’ and in-21

serting ‘‘subsection (c)(1)’’. 22

(B) Subsection (g) of section 2004 of the 23

Revised Statutes (52 U.S.C. 10101(g)) is 24



g:\VHLC\101619\101619.362.xml (747136|5)

45

amended by striking ‘‘subsection (c)’’ and in-1

serting ‘‘subsection (c)(1)’’. 2

(c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.— 3

(1) DECEPTIVE ACTS.—Section 594 of title 18, 4

United States Code, is amended— 5

(A) by striking ‘‘Whoever’’ and inserting 6

the following: 7

‘‘(a) INTIMIDATION.—Whoever’’; 8

(B) in subsection (a), as inserted by sub-9

paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘at any election’’ 10

and inserting ‘‘at any general, primary, run-off, 11

or special election’’; and 12

(C) by adding at the end the following new 13

subsections: 14

‘‘(b) DECEPTIVE ACTS.— 15

‘‘(1) FALSE STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERAL 16

ELECTIONS.— 17

‘‘(A) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful 18

for any person, whether acting under color of 19

law or otherwise, within 60 days before an elec-20

tion described in subsection (e), by any means, 21

including by means of written, electronic, or tel-22

ephonic communications, to communicate or 23

cause to be communicated information de-24

scribed in subparagraph (B), or produce infor-25



g:\VHLC\101619\101619.362.xml (747136|5)

46

mation described in subparagraph (B) with the 1

intent that such information be communicated, 2

if such person— 3

‘‘(i) knows such information to be ma-4

terially false; and 5

‘‘(ii) has the intent to mislead voters, 6

or the intent to impede or prevent another 7

person from exercising the right to vote in 8

an election described in subsection (e). 9

‘‘(B) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—Infor-10

mation is described in this subparagraph if such 11

information is regarding— 12

‘‘(i) the time or place of holding any 13

election described in subsection (e); or 14

‘‘(ii) the qualifications for or restric-15

tions on voter eligibility for any such elec-16

tion, including— 17

‘‘(I) any criminal penalties asso-18

ciated with voting in any such elec-19

tion; or 20

‘‘(II) information regarding a 21

voter’s registration status or eligi-22

bility. 23



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47

‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para-1

graph (1) shall be fined not more than $100,000, 2

imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. 3

‘‘(c) HINDERING, INTERFERING WITH, OR PRE-4

VENTING VOTING OR REGISTERING TO VOTE.— 5

‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for 6

any person, whether acting under color of law or 7

otherwise, to intentionally hinder, interfere with, or 8

prevent another person from voting, registering to 9

vote, or aiding another person to vote or register to 10

vote in an election described in subsection (e). 11

‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para-12

graph (1) shall be fined not more than $100,000, 13

imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. 14

‘‘(d) ATTEMPT.—Any person who attempts to commit 15

any offense described in subsection (a), (b)(1), or (c)(1) 16

shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed 17

for the offense that the person attempted to commit. 18

‘‘(e) ELECTION DESCRIBED.—An election described 19

in this subsection is any general, primary, run-off, or spe-20

cial election held solely or in part for the purpose of nomi-21

nating or electing a candidate for the office of President, 22

Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, 23

Member of the House of Representatives, or Delegate or 24

Commissioner from a Territory or possession.’’. 25



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48

(2) MODIFICATION OF PENALTY FOR VOTER IN-1

TIMIDATION.—Section 594(a) of title 18, United 2

States Code, as amended by paragraph (1), is 3

amended by striking ‘‘fined under this title or im-4

prisoned not more than one year’’ and inserting 5

‘‘fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned for not 6

more than 5 years’’. 7

(3) SENTENCING GUIDELINES.— 8

(A) REVIEW AND AMENDMENT.—Not later 9

than 180 days after the date of enactment of 10

this Act, the United States Sentencing Commis-11

sion, pursuant to its authority under section 12

994 of title 28, United States Code, and in ac-13

cordance with this section, shall review and, if 14

appropriate, amend the Federal sentencing 15

guidelines and policy statements applicable to 16

persons convicted of any offense under section 17

594 of title 18, United States Code, as amend-18

ed by this section. 19

(B) AUTHORIZATION.—The United States 20

Sentencing Commission may amend the Federal 21

Sentencing Guidelines in accordance with the 22

procedures set forth in section 21(a) of the Sen-23

tencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 note) as 24



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49

though the authority under that section had not 1

expired. 2

(4) PAYMENTS FOR REFRAINING FROM VOT-3

ING.—Subsection (c) of section 11 of the Voting 4

Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10307) is amended 5

by striking ‘‘either for registration to vote or for vot-6

ing’’ and inserting ‘‘for registration to vote, for vot-7

ing, or for not voting’’. 8

SEC. 313. CORRECTIVE ACTION. 9

(a) CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 10

(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Attorney General re-11

ceives a credible report that materially false informa-12

tion has been or is being communicated in violation 13

of paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 2004(b) of the 14

Revised Statutes (52 U.S.C. 10101(b)), as added by 15

section 312(a), and if the Attorney General deter-16

mines that State and local election officials have not 17

taken adequate steps to promptly communicate accu-18

rate information to correct the materially false infor-19

mation, the Attorney General shall, pursuant to the 20

written procedures and standards under subsection 21

(b), communicate to the public, by any means, in-22

cluding by means of written, electronic, or telephonic 23

communications, accurate information designed to 24

correct the materially false information. 25



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50

(2) COMMUNICATION OF CORRECTIVE INFORMA-1

TION.—Any information communicated by the Attor-2

ney General under paragraph (1)— 3

(A) shall— 4

(i) be accurate and objective; 5

(ii) consist of only the information 6

necessary to correct the materially false in-7

formation that has been or is being com-8

municated; and 9

(iii) to the extent practicable, be by a 10

means that the Attorney General deter-11

mines will reach the persons to whom the 12

materially false information has been or is 13

being communicated; and 14

(B) shall not be designed to favor or dis-15

favor any particular candidate, organization, or 16

political party. 17

(b) WRITTEN PROCEDURES AND STANDARDS FOR 18

TAKING CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 19

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 20

after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 21

General shall publish written procedures and stand-22

ards for determining when and how corrective action 23

will be taken under this section. 24



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51

(2) INCLUSION OF APPROPRIATE DEADLINES.— 1

The procedures and standards under paragraph (1) 2

shall include appropriate deadlines, based in part on 3

the number of days remaining before the upcoming 4

election. 5

(3) CONSULTATION.—In developing the proce-6

dures and standards under paragraph (1), the Attor-7

ney General shall consult with the Election Assist-8

ance Commission, State and local election officials, 9

civil rights organizations, voting rights groups, voter 10

protection groups, and other interested community 11

organizations. 12

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13

are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 14

such sums as may be necessary to carry out this subtitle. 15

SEC. 314. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 16

(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 17

each general election for Federal office, the Attorney Gen-18

eral shall submit to Congress a report compiling all allega-19

tions received by the Attorney General of deceptive prac-20

tices described in paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) of section 21

2004(b) of the Revised Statutes (52 U.S.C. 10101(b)), as 22

added by section 312(a), relating to the general election 23

for Federal office and any primary, run-off, or a special 24



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52

election for Federal office held in the 2 years preceding 1

the general election. 2

(b) CONTENTS.— 3

(1) IN GENERAL.—Each report submitted 4

under subsection (a) shall include— 5

(A) a description of each allegation of a 6

deceptive practice described in subsection (a), 7

including the geographic location, racial and 8

ethnic composition, and language minority- 9

group membership of the persons toward whom 10

the alleged deceptive practice was directed; 11

(B) the status of the investigation of each 12

allegation described in subparagraph (A); 13

(C) a description of each corrective action 14

taken by the Attorney General under section 15

4(a) in response to an allegation described in 16

subparagraph (A); 17

(D) a description of each referral of an al-18

legation described in subparagraph (A) to other 19

Federal, State, or local agencies; 20

(E) to the extent information is available, 21

a description of any civil action instituted under 22

section 2004(c)(2) of the Revised Statutes (52 23

U.S.C. 10101(c)(2)), as added by section 24



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53

312(b), in connection with an allegation de-1

scribed in subparagraph (A); and 2

(F) a description of any criminal prosecu-3

tion instituted under section 594 of title 18, 4

United States Code, as amended by section 5

3(c), in connection with the receipt of an allega-6

tion described in subparagraph (A) by the At-7

torney General. 8

(2) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION.— 9

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 10

shall not include in a report submitted under 11

subsection (a) any information protected from 12

disclosure by rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of 13

Criminal Procedure or any Federal criminal 14

statute. 15

(B) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN OTHER IN-16

FORMATION.—The Attorney General may deter-17

mine that the following information shall not be 18

included in a report submitted under subsection 19

(a): 20

(i) Any information that is privileged. 21

(ii) Any information concerning an 22

ongoing investigation. 23



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54

(iii) Any information concerning a 1

criminal or civil proceeding conducted 2

under seal. 3

(iv) Any other nonpublic information 4

that the Attorney General determines the 5

disclosure of which could reasonably be ex-6

pected to infringe on the rights of any in-7

dividual or adversely affect the integrity of 8

a pending or future criminal investigation. 9

(c) REPORT MADE PUBLIC.—On the date that the 10

Attorney General submits the report under subsection (a), 11

the Attorney General shall also make the report publicly 12

available through the Internet and other appropriate 13

means. 14

TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS 15

PROVISIONS 16

SEC. 401. EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROVISIONS. 17

Each provision of this Act and each amendment made 18

by a provision of this Act shall take effect on the effective 19

date provided under this Act for such provision or such 20

amendment without regard to whether or not the Federal 21

Election Commission, the Attorney General, or any other 22

person has promulgated regulations to carry out such pro-23

vision or such amendment. 24



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SEC. 402. SEVERABILITY. 1

If any provision of this Act or any amendment made 2

by this Act, or the application of a provision of this Act 3

or an amendment made by this Act to any person or cir-4

cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 5

of this Act, and the application of the provisions to any 6

person or circumstance, shall not be affected by the hold-7

ing. 8

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rules committee print 116-35 · october 16, 2019 rules committee print 116-35 text of h.r. 4617,...

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